


Lifeguard Duty

by hazellepotter



Series: Summer Love [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Brief Mention of Past Physical Violence, Brief Violence, Denial of Feelings, Developing Relationship, F/M, Knight and Shining Armor, Love, Muggle AU, Romance, Slow Burn, Summer, summer job
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 07:34:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11595912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazellepotter/pseuds/hazellepotter
Summary: Pansy always liked winning, but she knew Harry was a winner, too.





	Lifeguard Duty

_Harry hated summer._ He hated the heat, he hated how his clothes would stick to his skin, and he especially hated going back to his aunt’s house after his spring semester because he couldn’t afford to live on his own if he was not in a dorm.

She was dreadful; her husband was dreadful. He was at least thankful his cousin was no longer around, but that didn’t mean he still wasn’t forced to work at their country club doing terrible jobs.

In high school, he was forced to be their _janitor._  But once he got into college,  _they made him_ pay for his own swimming courses to become a lifeguard _for them._ There could be worse things, he figured. He argued against it at first, but they told him they would no longer pay for his college if he didn’t do it.

 _So_ here he was overseeing prissy bitches and fuck boys by their salt water pools to make sure they didn’t die as they tried to flirt by playing _Marco Polo._ Harry knew all the male members suggested the game to potentially feel up the girl members, which made it even worse. Harry hated anything pretentious, and Golden Hills country club was the definition of pretentious. He didn’t think anything could top it.

_Until he remembered Pansy Parkinson._

He knew about her in high school, _sure_. She was the cliche most popular girl in school who dated a new guy every few months but would always end up going back to her first boyfriend, Cormac McLaggen. It was enough to make Harry want to puke, but that was what high school had to be like. _Right?_

When he saw her by the pool the first day on his shift, he wasn’t surprised. Her father owned half the town, and it still amazed him that he hadn’t bought out his uncle yet.

She had grown her hair out since high school. It was now down to her mid-back, and she wore it in loose waves. He hadn’t seen her for three years, which seemed weird to him now.  _Where had she been? What had she been doing all the summers before this one?_

It was as though she could feel him watching her, because she turned around and looked up at him. He was sitting in his lifeguard’s chair, and he nearly fell off of it as he tried to look away quickly. He watched her right eye twinkle with  _amusement_ , and she smirked up at him. But she didn’t say anything, she just flipped her hair and kept walking with her oldest friend, Daphne Greengrass.

They made it to what Harry learned quickly was their favorite spot by the pool, and he watched as she rubbed sunscreen up and down her long tan legs. He felt his mouth water, but he pushed the thought away.  _He was here to protect people, not gape at them._  And besides, that’s what they wanted. That’s what Pansy Parkinson wanted.

_She always wanted that._

And he would not give her the light of day, because he,  _Harry Potter_ , was a stubborn son of a bitch.

 

* * *

  

Pansy was frustrated in more ways than one.

She was frustrated because her father refused to pay for her dream vacation to Peru, she was frustrated because she hadn’t sex in _two months_ , she was frustrated because Cormac was _still_  a jackass, and she was frustrated because Harry _fucking_  Potter would not give her the light of day.

It made no sense to her.  _Everyone_  wanted her. He seemed to want her the first day by the pool, but then he suddenly acted as though she didn’t exist. Weeks passed, and she resorted to pathetic attempts of fake drowning to get his attention. _He didn’t come and save her once._ He just glanced down at her through his prescription sunglasses and gave her his famous,  _“you’re a dumbass”_ look. It drove her mad.

She didn’t understand why she even cared. He was a nobody in high school, and Pansy had  _always_ been somebody. Daphne pointed this out to her as she flipped through her newest issue of Vogue.

“I don’t understand why you’re so caught up on him,” Daphne pondered out loud, “He isn’t even that hot. He was weird in high school, I doubt that has changed, and he has to wear  _prescription_  sunglasses. Why can’t he just get contacts like a normal guy his age?”

“Glasses are hot,” Pansy retorted.

“ _Yeah_ , but not on Potter.”

Pansy felt like she should defend herself and her unusual attraction, but she didn’t have the fight in her. So instead, she looked up at Potter and decided to analyze why she even liked him.

He had filled out since high school. He had black hair, broad shoulders, and startlingly green eyes when they weren’t hidden behind his glasses. He was smart, he was kind, and he was  _real._  She realized he was her type;  _he was the type of guy she could never catch after many years of chasing._ Maybe it was because she put on her rich girl facade to get everything she wanted, but that was the only way she knew how to survive.

Pansy was about to look away from him and give up for the day, but then he looked down at her.

Pansy’s mouth fell open slightly, and she blinked a few times in surprise. He had taken off his sunglasses, and his eyes looked fierce. It was intimidating, but she didn’t dare look away.

 _He didn’t either,_  and that’s when she realized he was challenging her.

Pansy always liked winning, but she knew Harry was a winner, too. 

 

* * *

 

It was after his twenty-first shift. Not that he was counting down the days.

She stayed by the pool the whole day, and he swore she was taunting him. Every time he glanced her way, she would lock her eyes on his and refuse to look away first. It was as though she was forcing him to relent, because  _he had to._  Pansy Parkinson was everything he stood up against, and well, he didn’t want to get fired and lose his chance to finish college.

It pissed him off; she pissed him off.  _Summer pissed him off._

So as he stormed out of the Golden Hill’s overly immaculate locker room, he internally berated himself for his feelings. But then he caught sight of her and the  _fear_ in her eyes.

Cormac McLaggen was yelling at her in the parking lot. Harry watched as the vein in his neck popped out an abnormal amount, and he watched as he grabbed Pansy’s upper-arm. 

That’s when an overwhelming amount of anger rushed through him.

Harry dropped his bag and charged toward Cormac without even thinking. He grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the BMW parked next to them. The emergency alarm started blaring, but he didn’t care. He wanted people to see.

“You don’t ever put your hands on her,” Harry seethed, “Or any other woman for that matter! Who the fuck do you think you are?”

Cormac’s nostrils flared as he pushed Harry back. Harry turned his head slightly to the right to check on Pansy. Her mouth was slightly open, and she rubbed her upper arm. He was about to ask her if she was alright, but Cormac’s fist hit his jaw before he could utter the words.

Cormac didn’t wait to see if he was okay; he didn’t even say he a word. Harry spit out the blood from his mouth, and he watched as Cormac slipped into the blaring BMW and sped away. 

Pansy tried to bend down to help him up, but Harry wiped his mouth against his wrist and got up himself. He forgot about the pain in his jaw as he looked into her eyes.

They still looked afraid.  _Was she afraid of him now?_

“Are you okay?” He asked her seriously, “Has he done that to you before?”

Pansy blinked a few times and looked down at the ground. She avoided answering his question.

“You might have a broken jaw, and you’re worried about a _bruise_  on my upper arm?”

Harry’s eyes darted down to her arm, and he watched as a violet bruise bloomed. That’s when he walked toward the bag he dropped in the middle of the parking lot and grabbed his water bottle. He had just filled it up with fresh ice and water before he left the locker room. 

Yeah, even their _locker rooms_  had ice and water machines.

 _But that wasn’t the point._  He brought it up to her arm and gently pressed it against her skin. She flinched away from him at first, but she eventually let him hold it against her arm.

“You didn’t answer my question before,” Harry prodded, “Has he done this to you before?”

_“Does it matter?”_

“Yes,” Harry answered immediately,  _“Of course it does.”_

“Why does it matter to you?”

Harry took this as an opportunity to look into her eyes again, and as he did so, she guided his hand holding his water bottle up to his jaw. He winced as he felt the cold pressure and pain, but he didn’t dare move away from her.

“Because it is wrong,” he answered honestly, “No one should ever hit or roughly grab anyone.”

She surprised him by  _smirking._

“You just hit Cormac.”

“Well, I think you can bend the rules when someone is a complete  _jackass._ ”

She smiled and laughed, and Harry realized that was the first time he had ever seen a genuine smile on her face.

 

* * *

 

Pansy knew he had to go back to school. They had been anticipating this moment since the night he saved her.

Pansy didn’t like to say he saved her, because she liked to save herself.  _She always had_ , but she would be lying if she said she didn’t like that Harry wanted to protect her. 

It was nice to have someone that loved her for real. Someone who loved her  _for her._

They were sitting by the pool after his last shift eating popsicles from the employee’s lounge. Their feet were dangling in the water, and Harry was laughing at one of her sarcastic remarks. She watched him smile, and she felt an in ache in her chest knowing that she wouldn’t see it again until winter break.

He watched the expression change on her face, and he gave her a concerned look.

“What’s wrong, Pans?”

She set down her popsicle stick and dipped her hands in the pool to rinse off the stickiness. She wanted to avoid answering him; she wanted to avoid the inevitable. He had to leave;  _they always had to leave._

“Nothing,” she lied, “I just hate sticky fingers.”

_“You’re lying.”_

He knew her too well; he could read her like an open book. She hated that about him. He had always been able to see through her facade.

Harry surprised her by bringing his sticky fingers up to cup her cheek. She would usually complain that he was touching her with popsicle fingers, but this wasn’t the time for that. She wanted to take in this moment; she didn’t want it to end.

She turned to look into his eyes, and her gut burned with passion. His eyes always ignited something in her, and she never wanted the flame to go out.

“Please tell me what’s wrong,” he begged quietly, “Tell me what I can do.”

Pansy surprised herself by smiling slightly. She grabbed his hand holding her cheek and brought it down to link their’s together. 

 _“You won,”_  she told him simply.

Harry perked his eyebrow up, but she could see the recognition in his eye. She expected him to have a look of triumph, but instead, he had a look of desire.

“You’re right,” he told her, _“I did win, and I got the best prize of all.”_

Pansy couldn’t help but smile wider as she leaned forward to kiss him. He smiled against her lips, too. This was what happiness was, _she knew it._  Nothing could get better than this moment.

As they pulled away from each other, she decided to add, “But I won, too. You can’t reap all the benefits. _It was a tie._ ”

He laughed, and that’s when she couldn’t help herself. She laughed, too. 

Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes and memorized this moment.

She had finally caught up to him.  _The chase was over._

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the Summer Vacation Challenge held by the Harry Potter Rare-Pair Network and Serpent and Lion Network on Tumblr. 
> 
> Check out these networks and their challenges at these links if you're interested:  
> http://hprarepairnet.tumblr.com  
> http://slytherdornet.tumblr.com


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